Systems and methods for managing access to media assets based on a projected location of a user

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for a media guidance application that allows access restrictions to be modified in a flexible manner based on a deviation in a user&#39;s projected location. Specifically, the media guidance application determines at an end of a first time period whether a user is in a projected location for a second time period. If the user is in a projected location for the second time period, the media guidance application sets a second level of media access restriction. However, if the media guidance application determines that the user is not in the projected location for the second time period, the media guidance application maintains the first level of media access restriction.

BACKGROUND

In conventional systems, various tools are currently available tocontrol access to media assets. These tools include methods of settingaccess restrictions on media content for specific periods of time.However, the media access restrictions are limited to basingrestrictions solely on the content of media assets and require users tomanually adjust the restrictions whenever the user wishes to change therestrictions.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, methods and systems are described herein for a mediaguidance application that automatically modifies access restrictions tomedia content in a flexible manner based on the criteria of a user. Inparticular, the media guidance application may automatically modifyaccess restrictions based on whether or not the user is in a particularlocation, or projected to be in a particular location, during specifictime periods.

For example, the media guidance application may, through varioustechniques, determine whether or not a user is in a projected locationfor a particular time period. If the user is not in his projectedlocation, the media guidance application may maintain current mediaaccess restrictions. If the user is in his projected location, the mediaguidance application may modify access restrictions to the mediacontent. For example, a parent may have set restrictions on whatprograms her children are allowed to watch between the time they gethome from school and the time she gets home from work. During a usualday, the children may get home from school at 3PM, but the parent maynot get home until 6PM. During the time period between 3PM and 6PM,programs that are not appropriate for children may be restricted.However, at 6PM, all restrictions may be lifted because the parent camehome. Some days, the parent may not get home exactly at 6PM. Therefore,the media guidance application may maintain the restrictions on mediacontent until the parent arrives home.

The media guidance application may determine whether or not a user is ina projected location and/or whether or not access restrictions shouldchange for a particular time period by analyzing content generated by auser or content about the user. For example, a user may be going onvacation and, as a result, may set access restrictions on media contentbefore leaving on vacation. However, while on vacation, a user may sendan SMS message with the text: “Thank you for staying at my house with mydog while I am away on vacation.” While the message may not instruct themedia guidance application as to the location of a user and/or whetheror not the media guidance application should modify the accessrestrictions, the media guidance application, based on the content andcontext of the message (e.g., in this case indicating that the home willbe occupied) may cause the media guidance application to automatically,without additional user inputs, modify the access restrictions.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may set, for a firsttime period, a first level of access restriction to media content. Forexample, the media guidance application may set a restriction to mediacontent where access to media assets including violent conduct may berestricted between the hours of 9AM and 6PM, which may correspond to atime period when a parent is not home.

The media guidance application may determine, for a second time period,a second level of access restriction to the media content based on aprojected location of a user during the second time period, wherein thesecond time period is different from and, consecutively, follows thefirst time period. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that after 6PM, which may correspond to a time when a parentarrives home, media assets including violent conduct may not berestricted. For example, after the parent arrives home, the parent doesnot need to rely on the access restrictions to prevent a child fromconsuming objectionable content.

The media guidance application may then determine that an end of thefirst time period has been reached. For example, the media guidanceapplication may include an internal clock or counter mechanism thatdetermines the current time. The media guidance application maycontinually compare the determined current time to times associated withthe access restrictions. For example, at 6PM the media guidanceapplication may determine that the time period of 9AM to 6PM has endedand, thus, under normal circumstances the access restrictions should belifted.

The media guidance application may also, in response to determining thatthe end of the first time period has been reached, determine whether ornot a user is in a different location than the projected location. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that a user'sprojected location at 6PM is inside the user's home (e.g., correspondingto the user returning home). However, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user's potential location, at 6PM, is inside anelectronics store (e.g., as determined based on information indicatingthe potential whereabouts of the user). As a result the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user is not in her projectedlocation.

The media guidance application may, in response to determining that theuser is in a different location than the projected location at the endof the first time period, maintain the first level of accessrestriction. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat while a user is projected to be at home at 6PM, the user is insteadat a restaurant. Because the user is at the restaurant, the mediaguidance application may maintain the same level of access restrictionsto the media content as during the prior consecutive time period.

Alternatively, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the user is in the projected location at the end of thefirst time period, replace the first level of access restriction withthe second level of access restriction. For example, if the mediaguidance application determines that the user is projected to be at homeat 6PM, the media guidance application may change media accessrestrictions from the first level to the second level.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, during thesecond time period and subsequent to determining that the user is in adifferent location than the projected location, determine that the userentered the projected location and in response to determining that theuser entered the projected location, automatically replace the firstlevel of access restriction with the second level of access restriction.For example, if a user is scheduled to leave his home at 2PM for adoctor's appointment and the user is expected to be back at home at 3PM,the media guidance application may restrict access to media content forthe time period between 2PM and 3PM. However, if the media guidanceapplication detects that the user has not returned home at 3PM, themedia guidance application may maintain the same level of accessrestriction to media content after 3PM. When the user returns home, forexample at 3:30PM, the media guidance application may detect the user'sreturn and set access restrictions to media content in the same manneras it would have done at 3PM if the user returned home at the scheduledtime.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, whenmaintaining the first level of access restrictions during the secondtime period, notify the user that the first level of access restrictionswill be maintained when the second time period begins. For example, asdescribed above, the user may be projected to be back at home at 3PMafter a doctor's appointment. However, the user may have stopped at asupermarket after the doctor's appointment and has not returned home by3PM as planned. As a result, the media guidance application may send anotification to the user's smart phone to inform the user that theaccess restrictions to media content will be maintained.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide anoption to the user to override the maintaining of the first level ofaccess restriction and in response to the user selecting the option,replace the first level of access restriction with the second level ofaccess restriction. For example, if the user is in a supermarket asdescribed above and the media guidance application notifies the user viaher smart phone that the first level of media access restriction will bemaintained, the media guidance application may also give the user anoption to instruct the media guidance application to proceed with thesecond level of access restriction as initially scheduled.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide, to theuser, an option to modify the second time period and, in response to theuser selecting the option, modify the second time period for a durationspecified by the user. For example, a user may be at a baseball game andthe user is scheduled to be home at 9PM. However, the baseball game maybe going into extra innings and the user will not be home until 10PM.When she gets a notification that a first level of access to the mediacontent will be maintained because the baseball game is going into extrainnings, the media guidance application may provide, to the user, anoption to delay the start of the second time period to 10PM.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may deny access to amedia asset during the second time period, wherein the media asset isrestricted under the first level of access restriction and isunrestricted under the second level of access restriction and notify aparty that is attempting to access the media asset that access to themedia asset is restricted because the user is not at the projectedlocation. For example, if the user goes to dinner and is projected to behome at 8PM, the media guidance application may determine that at 8PMaccess restrictions to media content will change. However, if the userdoes not return home until after 9PM, the access restrictions are notchanged. If at 8:05PM the user's child attempts to watch a show that isrestricted under the first level of access restrictions and isunrestricted under the second level of access restriction, the mediaguidance application may not allow the child to watch the show and maygenerate for display a notification to the child that she is not allowedto watch the show because a parent is not at home.

The media guidance application may use various techniques to project alocation of a user such as determining the projected location of a userbased on short message service, multimedia messaging service, a calendarapplication, and/or a section of a website associated with the user. Forexample, the media guidance application may retrieve a potentiallocation of the user from a calendar application that projects the userto be home at 5PM after a business meeting. However, if the mediaguidance application determines that the business meeting is nowscheduled to end at 5:30PM, based on calendar information, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user is not in her projectedlocation.

In another example, the media guidance application may determine apotential location of the user based on a publication of the user (e.g.,to another user). For example, the user may send a Short Message Service(“SMS”) message to his friend with a text “Going drinking after work.Are you in?” In response to the SMS message, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user will not be home on time and,therefore, the user's projected location will be different then theuser's location.

In another example, the user may, instead of sending an SMS message toher friend as in the example above, post the same message on herFacebook® page. The media guidance application may retrieve that messageand analyze the contents of the message. Based on the message, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user is not in her projectedlocation after work.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may receive input from afirst user setting a first level of access restriction to media content.For example, a user may restrict access to violent media content and tomedia content that requires extra payment in order to access it.

The media guidance application may detect a communication from the firstuser, wherein the communication from the first user is published to asecond user. For example, the user may post a message on her Facebook®page containing the text: “I am so glad I found a house-sitter for thetime I will be on vacation.” The media guidance application may monitorthe Facebook® page of the user and thus detect that post.

The media guidance application may then determine, based on thecommunication, that the first level of access restriction should bemodified. For example, based on the detected post, the media guidanceapplication may determine to modify the media access restrictions forviolent media content. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the access restrictions, or a portionthereof, should not be modified. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that access restrictions related to mediacontent requiring an extra charge should not be modified.

The media guidance application may then modify, based on thecommunication, the first level of access restriction. For example, ifthe media guidance application determines, in the example above, theaccess to violent content need not be restricted, it may only set accessrestriction to content that requires an extra charge to consume.

In some embodiments, media guidance application may determine whether ornot the detected communication includes a command to modify the firstlevel of access restriction. For example, the media guidance applicationmay detect an SMS message (e.g., “Please allow access to violentcontent.”) that indicates a command to modify the restrictions toviolent content, but maintains (or does not explicitly requestmodification of) the restrictions to media content that requires anextra charge.

In some embodiments, detecting the communication from the user comprisesperiodically querying a database comprising published communications ofthe user. For example, the media guidance application may have access toa database that stores all of the user's published communications. Thedatabase may be stored on the same device where the media guidanceapplication is active or it may be stored at a different location. Themedia guidance application may query the database every five minutes todetermine if the user's new published communications are available.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may notify the userthat the first level of access restriction will be modified. Forexample, the media guidance application may notify the user, via theuser's smart phone, of the modification. Furthermore, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may provide an option to theuser to override the modification of the first level of accessrestriction and in response to the user selecting the option, maintainthe first level of access restriction. For example, the media guidanceapplication may notify the user that media content access restrictionsof the example above will be relaxed based on the user finding ahouse-sitter. However, the user may not want the modification to takeplace. As a result, the media guidance application may give the user anoption to keep the first level of access. If the user selects theoption, access to violent content may still be restricted.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may notify the userthat the first level of access restriction will be maintained. Based onthe example above, the media guidance application may send aconfirmation to the user that access restrictions to violent contentwill be maintained.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide, to theuser, an option to delay the modification of the first level of accessrestriction and, in response to the user selecting the option, delayingthe modification of the first level of access restriction for a timeperiod specified by the user. For example, the user may be renting ahome he owns to different people throughout the year. He may chargepeople extra rent for access to premium media content. As a result, whenone user moves out and a second user moves in different levels of accessrestrictions may be set to media content. For example, a media guidanceapplication may determine that a new renter is to move into the home inthree days and that the new renter paid for access to premium mediacontent. As a result, the media guidance application may send anotification to the user informing the user that it will be allowingaccess to premium content in three days. The notification may alsocontain an option to delay the change. Additionally, the new renter mayhave informed the user that he will not be moving into the home for fivedays. As a result, the user may send back an instruction to the mediaguidance application to modify access restrictions to media content fivedays from today, instead of three days from today.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may allow access toa media asset after the modification of the first level of accessrestriction, wherein the media asset is restricted under the first levelof access restriction and is unrestricted after the modification of thefirst level of access restriction and notify a party that is attemptingto access the media asset that access to the media asset is grantedbecause access restrictions were relaxed. In the example above, if theuser does not delay the modification of media content, and the currenttenant tries to access premium content, access to premium content willbe granted. The media guidance application may also notify the tenantthat granted restrictions were relaxed.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve thecommunication, determine, based on the contents of the communication, asecond level of access restriction to the media content, and set thesecond level of access restriction. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the text of an SMS message that reads: “I am soexcited I found a baby sitter for my daughter while I am going to be onvacation.” The media guidance application may analyze the message anddetermine that access restrictions to media assets need to be relaxedand then relax those restrictions once the user goes on vacation.

It should be noted that the systems and/or methods described above maybe applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to notify a person consuming media content that access wasrestricted to a media asset in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in modifying accessto media content based on the user's projected location in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determiningwhether to maintain a first level of media access restrictions or to seta second level of media access restrictions in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in modifying accessto media content based on the user's published communications inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and systems are described herein for a media guidanceapplication that automatically modifies access restrictions to mediacontent in a flexible manner based on the criteria of a user. Inparticular, the media guidance application may automatically modifyaccess restrictions based on whether or not the user is in a particularlocation, or projected to be in a particular location, during specifictime periods.

As referred to herein, a “media guidance application” or a “guidanceapplication” is an application that provides media guidance data to auser through an interface. For example, a media guidance application mayallow users to efficiently navigate content selections and easilyidentify content that they may desire. Media guidance applications maytake various forms depending on the content for which they provideguidance. One typical type of media guidance application is aninteractive television program guide. Interactive television programguides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) arewell-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow usersto navigate among and locate many types of content or media assets.Media guidance applications may generate graphical user interfacescreens that enable a user to navigate among, locate and select content.

As referred to herein, the phrase “media guidance data” or “guidancedata” should be understood to mean any data related to content or dataused in operating the guidance application. For example, the guidancedata may include program information, guidance application settings,user preferences, user profile information, media listings,media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels,titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental controlratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actorinformation, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.),media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D, etc.),advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, etc.),on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type of guidancedata that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desiredcontent selections.

As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should beunderstood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such astelevision programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demandprograms (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g.,streaming content, downloadable content, Webcasts, etc.), video clips,audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents,playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs,advertisements, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/orany other media or multimedia and/or combination of the same. Guidanceapplications also allow users to navigate among and locate content. Asreferred to herein, the term “multimedia” should be understood to meancontent that utilizes at least two different content forms describedabove, for example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity contentforms. Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by userequipment devices, but can also be part of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

The media guidance application may be implemented and/or transmitinstruction to a user device. As referred to herein, the phrase “userequipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronic device,”“electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “media device”should be understood to mean any device for accessing the contentdescribed above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, anintegrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, adigital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital mediaadapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, aconnected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAYrecorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same.

In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facingscreen and a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multipleangled screens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may havea front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these userequipment devices, users may be able to navigate among and locate thesame content available through a television. Consequently, mediaguidance may be available on these devices, as well. The guidanceprovided may be for content available only through a television, forcontent available only through one or more of other types of userequipment devices, or for content available both through a televisionand one or more of the other types of user equipment devices. The mediaguidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e.,provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients onuser equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may implementmedia guidance applications are described in more detail below.

The media guidance application may, through various techniques,determine whether or not a user is in a projected location for aparticular time period. If the user is not in his projected location,the media guidance application may maintain current media accessrestrictions. If the user is in his projected location, the mediaguidance application may modify access restrictions to the mediacontent. For example, a parent may have set restrictions on whatprograms her children are allowed to watch between the time they gethome from school and the time she gets home from work. During a usualday, the children may get home from school at 3PM, but the parent maynot get home until 6PM. During the time period between 3PM and 6PM,programs that are not appropriate for children may be restricted.However, at 6PM, all restrictions may be lifted because the parent camehome. Some days, the parent may not get home exactly at 6PM. Therefore,the media guidance application may maintain the restrictions on mediacontent until the parent arrives home.

The media guidance application may determine whether or not accessrestrictions should change for a particular time period by analyzingcontent generated by a user or content about the user. For example,while a user is at work, the media guidance application may assign afirst level of access restrictions. However, a microblog transmitted bythe user may indicate that the user has friends staying at his home.While the message may not instruct the media guidance application tomodify the access restrictions, the media guidance application, based onthe content and context of the message (e.g., in this case indicatingthat the home will be occupied) may cause the media guidance applicationto automatically, without additional user inputs, modify the accessrestrictions.

As referred to herein, an “access restriction” is any restriction onwhat content may or may not be consumed by a user on a device. In someembodiments, access restrictions may be time dependent. That is, whetheror not an access restriction applies, and/or what media content theaccess restriction applies to, may depend on the current time. In someembodiments, access restrictions may depend on particular criteria. Forexample, whether or not an access restriction applies, and/or what mediacontent the access restriction applies to, may depend on whether or notparticular criteria (e.g., the location of a user) is met.

For example, in some embodiments, the media guidance application mayset, for a first time period, a first level of access restriction tomedia content. The first time period may correspond to a time (e.g., 9AM to 6 PM) during which a user is at work. Another period, which maycorrespond to the same (or different) access restrictions may be from 2PM to 4 PM on Saturday, which corresponds to a time when the user is atthe gym.

The access restrictions may block and/or otherwise restrict access tocontent based on a comparison of characteristics of the content to theaccess restrictions. In one example, the media guidance applicationcompares ratings information associated with a media asset to determinewhether or not the access restriction should prevent the media assetfrom being shown. For example, the media guidance application mayretrieve, from media guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4 ), media assetratings for each media asset available for the user. The media assetratings may include several categories. For example, one category may bemedia assets that are appropriate for a person of any age. Anothercategory may be media assets appropriate for only individuals thirteenyears of age or above and yet another category may be media assetsappropriate for only individuals 17 years or older. The media guidancemay determine that the first level of access restrictions may be set todeny access to any media assets that are for individuals 17 years of ageor older. If the user has children that are under 17, the media guidanceapplication may deny access to programs that are not appropriate forchildren under seventeen years old while the user is not at home.

In another example, the media guidance application may receive inputfrom the user of media assets that the user wishes to restrict accessunder the first level of access restriction to media assets. The userinput may include, for example, specific channels, specific mediaassets, specific types of media assets, etc. Types of media assets mayinclude media assets with violent content, adult language, etc. Themedia guidance application may, for example, receive input from the userspecifying that all violent content may be restricted along with adultcontent while the user is not at home.

In another example, the media guidance application may have pre-createdaccess restrictions levels that may be retrieved from a content provideror from a third party. The media guidance application may allow the userto choose different levels of access restrictions for different timeperiods.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, for asecond time period, a second level of access restriction to the mediacontent based on a projected location of a user during the second timeperiod, wherein the second time period is different from and,consecutively, follows the first time period. A “projected location” ofthe user as defined herein is a location where the user is found at aspecific time under normal circumstances. For example, the mediaguidance application may include a default schedule of the user thatindicates where and when a user can be found. The default schedule maybe based on active (e.g., manual user entries identifying a schedule) orpassive (e.g., analyzing content describing the position of the user)monitoring of the user.

For example, the media guidance application may determine (e.g., basedon entries of a user into a calendar application) that the user isscheduled to be at home until 2PM on Saturday and then leave his home togo to an athletic club and return at 4PM. Based on that determination,the media guidance application may determine that the projected locationof the user is the user's home until 2PM on Saturday, the athletic clubbetween 2PM and 4PM and then again the user's home after 4PM. As aresult, the media guidance application may determine that access tomedia assets that require an additional charge may be restrictedstarting at 2PM and the restriction may last until 4PM.

The media guidance application may determine the projected location ofthe user in various ways by analyzing the content and context of datagenerated by the user and data generated about the user. For example, anobject recognition module incorporated into and/or access by the mediaguidance application may use multiple types of optical characterrecognition and/or fuzzy logic, for example, when processing keyword(s)retrieved from data (e.g., textual data, translated audio data, userinputs, etc.). For example, the compare social media site webpage posts,microblog entries, and/or other data generated by or about the user. Themedia guidance application may further use a search function and/orfuzzy logic. For example, using fuzzy logic, the media application(e.g., via a content recognition module or algorithm incorporated into,or accessible by, the media guidance application) may determine twofields and/or values to be identical even though the substance of thedata or value (e.g., two different spellings of a potential destination)is not identical.

As used herein, a “social network,” refers to a platform thatfacilitates networking and/or social relations among people who, forexample, share interests, activities, backgrounds, and/or real-lifeconnections. In some cases, social networks may facilitate communicationbetween multiple user devices (e.g., computers, televisions,smartphones, tablets, etc.) associated with different users byexchanging content from one device to another via a social media server.As used herein, a “social media server” refers to a computer server thatfacilitates a social network. For example, a social media serverowned/operated/used by a social media provider may make content (e.g.,status updates, microblog posts, images, graphic messages, etc.)associated with a first user accessible to a second user that is withinthe same social network as the first user. In such cases, classes ofentities may correspond to the level of access and/or the amount or typeof content associated with a first user that is accessible to a seconduser.

In some embodiments, the content recognition module or algorithm mayalso include speech recognition techniques, including, but not limitedto, Hidden Markov Models, dynamic time warping, and/or neural networks(as described above) to translate spoken words into text and/orprocessing audio data. For example, the content recognition module maylisten for sounds that may indicate a user is going to, or will be at, aparticular location.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether or not a user is at a location based on whether or not the useris carrying or wearing a user device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may use a global positioning system to determine where auser or user device held by the user is currently located. Furthermore,the media guidance application may cross-reference a database thatindicates particular locations with respect to a global positioningcoordinate. For example, the media guidance application may receive amap or floor plan (e.g., inputted by the user or received from a remotesource) that described the geographic limits of each location. The mediaguidance application may then cross-reference global positioncoordinates received from a device to determine whether or not the useror the device is at a location.

Additionally, the media guidance application may compare the coordinatesof a user's current position to determine whether or not the user willlikely be at a scheduled location. For example, if the user's scheduleindicates that the user should be home in five minutes, but the mediaguidance application determines a user is currently a hundred milesaway, the media guidance application may update the projected locationof the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may use amotion-detecting system to determine whether or not a user is at alocation. In response to detecting that a user has entered a location,the media guidance application may update the current and projectedlocation of the user.

In another example, the media guidance application may determine that auser and/or user device has entered a viewing area based on whether ornot the user device is acknowledged and/or verified. For example, themedia guidance application may determine whether or not a user deviceassociated with a user is currently connected to a Wi-Fi network at thelocation. If so, the media guidance application may determine the userdevice, and, thus, the user is at the location.

In another example, the media guidance application may determine that auser and/or user device has entered a viewing area using objectrecognition. For example, the media guidance application may incorporateand/or have access to a content recognition module. The contentrecognition module may use object recognition techniques such as edgedetection, pattern recognition, including, but not limited to,self-learning systems (e.g., neural networks), optical characterrecognition, on-line character recognition (including, but not limitedto, dynamic character recognition, real-time character recognition,intelligent character recognition), and/or any other suitable techniqueto monitor the appearance (or lack thereof) of one or more users and/oruser devices. For example, the media application may receive data in theform of a video of the location. The video may include a series offrames. For each frame of the video, the media application may use acontent recognition module or algorithm to detect the users in each ofthe frames or series of frames.

In another example, the media guidance application may have access toSMS messages sent and received by the user. The media guidanceapplication may gain access to those messages by being active on theuser's smart phone and/or another device with access to the user's SMSmessages. If the media guidance application retrieves a message from theuser to a friend with text: “Going to the athletic club on Saturday at2PM. Meet me there.”, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user is going to leave his home at 2PM. If the media guidanceapplication also retrieves a message from the user to his son with text:“Going to be home at 4PM.”, the media guidance application may determinethat the user will return home at 4PM.

The media guidance application may also determine the projected locationof the user by accessing the user's MMS messages. For example, the usermay send a message to his friend with a picture of himself exercisingand a time. The media guidance application may receive that message andbased on the message, determine that the user is going to go to theathletic club at the specified time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine the content (e.g., a picture of the userexercising) and the context (e.g., informing the friend the user will beexercising at a particular time) of the MMS message. In another example,if the media guidance application receives another message from a userto his son with a picture that shows two people having a meal at homewith a specific time, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user may return home by that time for dinner.

The media guidance application may also determine the projected locationof the user by accessing the user's calendar application. The mediaguidance application may retrieve an entry from the user's calendar thatindicates that the user is scheduled to be at the athletic club at 2PMand the entry may have the ending time of 4PM.

The media guidance application may also determine the projected locationof the user by retrieving a section of a website associated with theuser and determining that a user posted a new communication within thesection about the user's upcoming activities. For example, a user mayhave a Facebook® page associated with him. The user may post a messageon his Facebook® page that states that he is going to a local bar at acertain time and will stay there for a certain amount of time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the end of the first time period has been reached,determine whether the user is in a different location than the projectedlocation. For example, the media guidance application may be active on adevice illustrated by FIG. 3 . The media guidance application may, viacontrol circuitry 306, determine what the current time is. The mediaguidance application may also retrieve from storage 308 time periods andtheir corresponding levels of media access restrictions. The mediaguidance application may determine that the first time period has endedand the second time period is about to begin.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the end of the first time period has been reached,determine whether the user is in a different location than the projectedlocation. The ways in which the media guidance application may determinethe user's projected location have been described above. The mediaguidance application may determine the user's location in the same wayas it determines the user's projected location. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve user's new SMS and MMS messages wherethe user may be indicating that, instead of going to be home at 6PM, theuser is going to a bar after work. The media guidance application mayalso retrieve an SMS or an MMS message from the user to a friendindicating that the user will be skipping the athletic club on aparticular Saturday. The media guidance application may also retrieve apost on the user's Facebook® page that he will be missing his scheduledtime at the athletic club and determine the user's deviation in theschedule based on the message. Additionally or alternatively, the mediaguidance may retrieve a calendar item from the user's calendarapplication in order to determine that the user is going to deviate fromhis schedule.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the user is in a different location than the projectedlocation at the end of the first time period, maintain the first levelof access restriction. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that a parent is projected to be home at 6PM every night afterwork. However, the media guidance application may determine that theparent has stopped at a supermarket and that, at 6PM, the parent is notin his home. If, for example, the media guidance application may havepreviously set restrictions to media assets that include violentcontent, the media guidance application may not remove thoserestrictions based on the parent not being home on time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the user is in the projected location at the end of thefirst time period, replace the first level of access restriction withthe second level of access restriction. For example, if the mediaguidance application in the example above determines that the user is athome at 6PM, the media guidance application may remove accessrestrictions to media assets including violent content.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, during thesecond time period, and subsequent to determining that the user is in adifferent location than the projected location, determine that the userentered the projected location and, in response to determining that theuser entered the projected location, automatically replace the firstlevel of access restriction with the second level of access restriction.Similar to the above example, if the media guidance applicationdetermines that the user is going to be late coming home after adoctor's appointment, based on the user's GPS location, the mediaguidance application may maintain the same level of access to mediaassets as when the user is not at home. However, the media guidanceapplication may subsequently determine that the user came home and,based on the user coming home, the media guidance application may setthe second level of access restrictions to media assets.

In some embodiments, determining whether the user is in a differentlocation than the projected location comprises periodically querying adatabase comprising location information of the user. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve and store all of user's SMSmessages, MMS messages, calendar items and publications by the user to adatabase. The database may be located on the same device that the mediaguidance application is active on (e.g., device of FIG. 3 ). Thedatabase may also be located at media guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4). The database may be periodically updated. The media guidanceapplication may query the database at the end of every time period inorder to determine if an updated location has been determined.Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application may querythe database at regular time intervals in order to retrieve any updatesbefore the end of a first time period.

In some embodiments, when maintaining the first level of accessrestriction during the second time period, the media guidanceapplication may notify the user that the first level of accessrestriction will be maintained when the second time period begins. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that an accessrestriction to media assets that require an extra charge to consume willbe maintained because the user has not returned home at a scheduledtime. The media guidance application may also determine that the userhas a device associated with him that the user keeps in his possessionthroughout the day (e.g., a smart phone or an electronic tablet). Basedon those determinations, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay on the device in the user's possession a notification that anaccess restriction to media assets that require an extra charge toconsume will be maintained because the user has not returned home.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may deny access to amedia asset during the second time period, wherein the media asset isrestricted under the first level of access restriction and isunrestricted under the second level of access restriction and notify aparty that is attempting to access the media asset that access to themedia asset is restricted because the user is not at the projectedlocation. For example, if the user is late getting home from work, theuser's kids may try to access content that includes adult language. As aresult, the media guidance application may notify the kids that accessto the media asset is still restricted because the user is not home yet.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive inputfrom a first user to set a first level of access restriction to mediacontent. For example, the media guidance application may provide to theuser, via display 312 (FIG. 3 ), a selectable set of options where theuser may choose media content that the user wishes to restrict accessto. For example, the media guidance application may receive from theuser a set of channels to which the user wishes access restrictions tobe set. Additionally or alternatively, as described above, the mediaguidance application may allow a user to set access restrictions tomedia content based on a rating of the media content.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive acommunication from the first user, wherein the communication from thefirst user is published to a second user. For example, as describedabove, a communication from the first user that is published to seconduser may be an SMS message, an MMS message, a calendar application item,or an update to a section of a website associated with the user that themedia guidance application may retrieve and analyze.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, basedon the communication, that the first level of access restriction is tobe modified. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat a user may have two homes. The user may be living in one home forone time period and in another home for another time period. When theuser leaves one home, he may set a first level of access restriction tomedia content in the home. For example, the user may restrict access toall on-demand content and pay-per-view content while the user is awayfrom the home. The media guidance application may further determine thata user may have a guest in a home that the user is currently away from.The communication may be an SMS message from the user to his guest. As aresult, the media guidance application may determine that a first levelof access restriction needs to be modified. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that restrictions for consumingon-demand content need to be lifted, but restrictions for consumingpay-per-view content need to remain in place.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may modify, based onthe communication, the first level of access restriction. If the mediaguidance application determines that access to media content needs to bemodified, it may do so by allowing the guest access to on-demand mediacontent.

In some embodiments, the communication from the first user does notcomprise a command to modify the first level of access restriction. Forexample, the user may not send an SMS message that contains the text:“Please allow on-demand content to be accessed while I am away.”

In some embodiments, receiving the communication from the user comprisesperiodically querying a database comprising published communications ofthe user. For example, as described above, the media guidanceapplication may have access to database containing all of the user'scommunications. As a result, the media guidance application may querythe database in order to get an update of user's communications. Themedia guidance application may query a database that resides on the samedevice as the media guidance application (e.g., FIG. 3 ). The databasemay also reside at the media guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4 ) and maybe accessed by the media guidance application over communicationsnetwork 414.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may notify the userthat the first level of access restriction will be modified. Forexample, as described above, the media guidance application may notifythe user through a device in the possession of the user (e.g., a smartphone or an electronic tablet).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide anoption to the user to override the modification of the first level ofaccess restriction and, in response to the user selecting the option,maintain the first level of access restriction. For example, the mediaguidance application may also generate for display an option on a devicein possession of the user (e.g., a smart phone or an electronic tablet)for the user to instruct the media guidance application not to allow theguest access to on-demand content.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may notify the userthat the first level of access restriction will be maintained. Forexample, if the media guidance application determines that the userchoose to maintain access restrictions to on-demand content, the mediaguidance application may confirm to the user that it will maintain thefirst level of media access restriction.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide, to theuser, an option to delay the modification of the first level of accessrestriction and in response to the user selecting the option, delay themodification of the first level of access restriction for a time periodspecified by the user. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display on a device in possession of the user (e.g., asmart phone or an electronic table) an option for the user to delayallowing access to on-demand content until the guest actually arrives atthe uninhabited home of the user. If the media guidance applicationdetermines that the user has chosen to delay the modification for aspecific amount of time, the media guidance application may delay themodification as the user requested.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may allow access toa media asset after the modification of the first level of accessrestriction, wherein the media asset is restricted under the first levelof access restriction and is unrestricted after the modification of thefirst level of access restriction and notify a party that is attemptingto access the media asset that access to the media asset is grantedbecause access restrictions were relaxed. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate for display an overlay when a userselects a media asset for consumption notifying the user that accesswill be granted based on a modified level of access restrictions tomedia assets.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L. P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4 . Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2 . Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Dec. 29, 2005,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300.

More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussedbelow in connection with FIG. 4 . User equipment device 300 may receivecontent and data via input/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path302 may provide content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demandprogramming, Internet content, content available over a local areanetwork (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other content) and datato control circuitry 304, which includes processing circuitry 306 andstorage 308. Control circuitry 304 may be used to send and receivecommands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 302. I/O path302 may connect control circuitry 304 (and specifically processingcircuitry 306) to one or more communications paths (described below).I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communicationspaths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4 ). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4 , may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 312may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device.

The remote server may process the stored instructions using circuitry(e.g., control circuitry 304) and generate the displays discussed aboveand below. The client device may receive the displays generated by theremote server and may display the content of the displays locally onequipment device 300. This way, the processing of the instructions isperformed remotely by the server while the resulting displays areprovided locally on equipment device 300. Equipment device 300 mayreceive inputs from the user via input interface 310 and transmit thoseinputs to the remote server for processing and generating thecorresponding displays. For example, equipment device 300 may transmit acommunication to the remote server indicating that an up/down button wasselected via input interface 310. The remote server may processinstructions in accordance with that input and generate a display of theapplication corresponding to the input (e.g., a display that moves acursor up/down). The generated display is then transmitted to equipmentdevice 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions and advertisements thatentice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated bythe score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4 .

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3 .

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of a display that the mediaguidance application has generated, via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), in response to a party attempting to access a restricted media assetand based on a user not being in the projected location. For example,the media guidance application may have determined that a user hasdeviated from his scheduled based on retrieving GPS coordinates from adevice associated with the user (e.g., the user's smart phone). If theuser's smart phone is in a location that is different from the user'sprojected location, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user's location is different then the user's projected location, andmodify access restrictions accordingly.

In FIG. 5 , the media guidance application generated, via processingcircuitry 306 (FIG. 3 ), display 502 (FIG. 5 ) including a programlisting 504 (FIG. 5 ) for “The Bourne Identity.” The media guidanceapplication may generate for display overlay 506 in response to aselection, via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3 ) of program listing 504(FIG. 5 ). Overlay 506 includes message 508, which indicates that accessto the program associated with program listing 504 is restricted basedon the user not being in the projected location.

For example, the media guidance application may modify a first level ofmedia access restriction based on a published communication from theuser. For example, if access to “The Bourne Identity” was restrictedunder the first level of media access restriction and subsequentlyallowed by a modification based on the user's published communication,message 508 may, instead, include a message that indicates that accesswas granted because the media guidance application was instructed by theuser to modify the first level of media access restriction.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide anoption (e.g., generated for display on another device) to the user tooverride the maintaining of the first level of access restriction and inresponse to the user selecting the option, replace the first level ofaccess restriction with the second level of access restriction. Themedia guidance application, additionally or alternatively to thenotification described above, may generate for display an option for theuser to grant access to media assets. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may provide, to the user, an option to modify thesecond time period and in response to the user selecting the option,modify the second time period for a duration specified by the user. Insuch cases, the option may require a user to enter a password.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in modifying mediaaccess restrictions in a flexible manner based on a deviation in auser's projected location. It should be noted that process 600 or anystep thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devicesshown in FIGS. 3-4 . For example, process 600 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) as instructed by a media guidance applicationimplemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4 ) in order todistribute control of media guidance application operations for a targetdevice among multiple user devices. In addition, one or more steps ofprocess 600 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more stepsof any other process or embodiment (e.g., process 700 (FIG. 7 )).

At step 602, the media guidance application sets (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) for a first time period, a first level ofaccess restriction to media content. For example, the media guidanceapplication retrieves, via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3 ) fromstorage 308 (FIG. 3 ) a list of media assets that must be restrictedunder the first level of access restriction to media content.Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application mayretrieve a set of criteria associated with the first level of accessrestriction, in which media assets corresponding to the criteria areblocked. The media guidance application may then monitor (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) for attempted access to restrictedmedia assets and if it detects (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) attempted access to restricted media assets, it may block access.

At step 604, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )), for a second time period, a secondlevel of access restriction to the media content based on a projectedlocation of a user during the second time period, wherein the secondtime period is different from and consecutively follows the first timeperiod. The media guidance application may retrieve from storage 308(FIG. 3 ), another list of media assets that must be restricted underthe second level of access restriction to the media content.Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application mayretrieve another set of criteria associated with the second level ofaccess restriction, in which media assets corresponding to the criteriaare blocked. The media guidance application may determine (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )), the differences between the firstlevel of access restriction and the second level of access restriction.

At step 606, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) that an end of the first time periodhas been reached.

The media guidance application may retrieve (via processing circuitry306 (FIG. 3 )) from storage 308 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.) the current time.The media guidance application may repeat this operation every minute.The media guidance application may also retrieve (via processingcircuitry 306 (FIG. 3 )) from storage 308 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.) an endtime of the first time period. If the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) that the twotimes are the same or if the current time is greater then the end timeof the first time period, the media guidance application determines thatthe first time period has ended.

At step 608, the media guidance application, in response to determiningthat the end of the first time period has been reached, determines(e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) whether the user is in adifferent location than the projected location. The media guidanceapplication may (e.g., via processing circuitry 306) retrieve fromstorage 308 (FIG. 3 ) the projected location of the user. The projectedlocation of the user may also be retrieved from a database residing atmedia guidance data source 418 via communications network 414. The mediaguidance application may then compare (e.g., via processing circuitry306) the user's location to the user's projected location. As a result,the media guidance application determines whether the user is in alocation different then the user's projected location.

At step 610, the media guidance application, in response to determiningthat the user is in a different location than the projected location atthe end of the first time period, maintains (e.g., via control circuitry304 (FIG. 3 )) the first level of access restriction. If, at step 608,the media guidance application determines that the user is in adifferent location then the user's projected location, the mediaguidance application may not execute (e.g., via processing circuitry306) instructions to set the second level of media access restriction.

At step 612, the media guidance application, in response to determiningthat the user is in the projected location at the end of the first timeperiod, replaces (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the firstlevel of access restriction with the second level of access restriction.The media guidance application may use the determination of thedifferences between the first level of media access restriction and thesecond media access of media access restriction determined at step 604to replace (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the first mediaaccess restriction with the second media access restriction.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 6 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 6 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 6 .

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determiningwhether a second level of access restriction needs to be set. It shouldbe noted that process 700 or any step thereof could be performed on, orprovided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process700 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) as instructed bya media guidance application implemented on user equipment 402, 404,and/or 406 (FIG. 4 ) in order to distribute control of media guidanceapplication operations for a target device among multiple user devices.In addition, one or more steps of process 700 may be incorporated intoor combined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment(e.g., process 600 (FIG. 6 )).

At step 702, the media guidance application monitors (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) for an end of the first time period. The mediaguidance application may compare (e.g. via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the current time that it retrieves via processing circuitry 306 (FIG.3 ) from storage 308 (FIG. 3 ) with the end time of the first timeperiod also retrieved via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3 ) fromstorage 308 (FIG. 3 ).

At step 704, the media guidance application determines whether the firsttime period has ended. If the first time period has not ended, the mediaguidance application moves back to step 702, but if the first timeperiod has ended, the media guidance application continues to step 706.For example, the media guidance application may incorporate or haveaccess to a clock or counter mechanism that determines the current time.The media guidance application (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) may continually compare the determined current time to timesassociated with the access restrictions.

At step 706, the media guidance application retrieves, (e.g. via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) from a database, a projected location of theuser for a second time period. The database may be stored on the samedevice that the media guidance application is active on (e.g., instorage 308 (FIG. 3 )). The database may also be stored at mediaguidance data source 418 (FIG. 3 ) and retrieved via communicationsnetwork 414.

At step 708, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) a location of the user based on atleast one of an SMS message, an MMS message, a calendar program entry,or an update to a section of a website associated with the user. Themedia guidance application may be active on multiple devices associatedwith the user. Some of those devices may be used by the user to send SMSand MMS messages. When the user sends or receives an SMS or an MMSmessage the media guidance application may retrieve the message from theuser's device and determine the user's potential location based on themessage. The media guidance application may also transmit the message tomedia guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4 ) via communications network 414(FIG. 4 ). The message may be analyzed at media guidance data source 418to determine whether it contains the user's potential location. Themedia guidance application may also retrieve (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) calendar items from user's calendar program andanalyze the entries for user's potential location. Additionally oralternatively, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) updates to a section of website wherethe section of the website is associated with the user. Both thecalendar items and the updates to a section of the website may betransmitted (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) to mediaguidance data source 418 (FIG. 4 ) for analysis in order to determinethe potential location of the user.

At step 710, The media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) if the location of the user has beendetermined based on user's potential locations. If the location of theuser has not been determined, the media guidance application moves tostep 712. For example, if the media guidance application cannotdetermine the location of the user, the media guidance application maynot vary from the scheduled access restrictions (i.e., may set thesecond level of access restriction). If the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the user'slocation it moves to step 714.

At step 712, the media guidance application sets (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) a second level of access restriction to mediacontent. The media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the settings associated with the first level ofaccess restriction to media content and the second level of media accessrestriction to media content. The media guidance application may compare(e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the two levels of mediaaccess restriction and apply (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ))the changes to the media content.

At step 714, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) whether the user is in the projectedlocation. Various methods of determining whether the user is in theprojected location have been described above. If the media guidanceapplication determines (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) thatthe user is in the projected location, the media guidance applicationcontinues to step 712. However, if the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) that the user isnot in the user's projected location, it will continue to step 716, andwill maintain (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the firstlevel of access restriction to the media content.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 7 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 7 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 7 .

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determiningwhether to modify access restrictions to media content based on user'spublished communications. It should be noted that process 800 or anystep thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devicesshown in FIGS. 3-4 . For example, process 800 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) as instructed by a media guidance applicationimplemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4 ) in order todistribute control of media guidance application operations for a targetdevice among multiple user devices. In addition, one or more steps ofprocess 800 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more stepsof any other process or embodiment (e.g., process 600 (FIG. 6 ) orprocess 700 (FIG. 7 )).

At step 802, the media guidance application receives (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) input from a first user to set a first level ofaccess restriction to media content. The media guidance application maygenerate for display on display 312 (FIG. 3 ) options for the first userto pick content that the user desires to restrict under the first levelof access restriction. The media guidance application may receive thefirst user's selections (e.g., via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3 )).Once the media guidance application receives the first user's selectionsit can apply (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) the selections.

At step 804, the media guidance application detects (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) a communication from the first user, whereinthe communication from the first user is published to a second user. Asdiscussed above, the media guidance application may receive an SMSmessage, an MMS message, a calendar item, an update to a section of awebsite associated with the user, etc.

At step 806, the media guidance determines (e.g., via control circuitry304 (FIG. 3 )), based on the communication, that the first level ofaccess restriction is to be modified. The media guidance application mayanalyze (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )) all thecommunications sent and received by the user in order to determinewhether the first level of access restriction needs to be modified.

At step 808, the media guidance application modifies (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )), based on the communication, the first level ofaccess restriction. If the media guidance application determines in step806 that the first level of access restriction to media content needs tobe modified it may do so (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )).

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 8 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 8 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 8 .

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

1.-50. (canceled)
 51. A method for modifying access to media content,the method comprising: identifying a particular access restrictionassociated with the media content; determining that a first time periodhas ended, wherein the first time period is associated with theparticular access restriction for the media content; in response todetermining that the first time period has ended: retrieving, from adatabase, a location where a user is expected to be present during asecond time period; and determining, based on comparing a currentlocation of the user to the location where the user is expected to bepresent during the second time period, whether the user is in thelocation where the user is expected to be present during the second timeperiod; and in response to determining that the user is not in thelocation where the user is expected to be present during the second timeperiod, maintaining the particular access restriction for the mediacontent.
 52. The method of claim 51, further comprising: in response todetermining that the user is in the location where the user is expectedto be present during the second time period, replacing the particularaccess restriction for the media content with a different accessrestriction for the media content.
 53. The method of claim 52, furthercomprising: in response to replacing the particular access restrictionwith the different access restriction for the media content, providing anotification to the user that the particular access restriction will bemodified.
 54. The method of claim 51, further comprising: determiningthe current location of the user by analyzing at least one of a contentof an electronic message or a context of the electronic message.
 55. Themethod of claim 54, wherein the electronic message is at least one of ashort message service message associated with the user, a multimediamessage service message associated with the user, a calendaringapplication entry associated with the user, or an update to a section ofa website associated with the user.
 56. The method of claim 54, furthercomprising: retrieving the electronic message by periodically queryingthe database comprising published communications of the user.
 57. Themethod of claim 51, wherein: the user is a parent user; and the methodfurther comprises providing a notification to a computing deviceassociated with a child user indicating that the particular accessrestriction for the media content will be maintained for at least aportion of the second time period.
 58. The method of claim 57, furthercomprising: providing the notification to a computing device of theparent user indicating that the particular access restriction for themedia content will be maintained for at least the portion of the secondtime period.
 59. The method of claim 51, wherein the particular accessrestriction blocks or otherwise restricts access to the media contentbased on a comparison of one or more characteristics of the mediacontent to the particular access restriction, and wherein the one ormore characteristics of the media content comprise at least one of:media content ratings for the media content, categories of the mediacontent or age ratings associated with the media content.
 60. The methodof claim 51, further comprising: providing an option to the user tooverride the maintaining of the particular access restriction; and inresponse to the user selecting the option, replacing the particularaccess restriction with a different access restriction.
 61. A systemcomprising: a computer memory configured to store a location where auser is expected to be present during a second time period; and controlcircuitry configured to: identify a particular access restrictionassociated with media content; determine that a first time period hasended, wherein the first time period is associated with the particularaccess restriction for the media content; in response to determiningthat the first time period has ended: retrieve, from a database, thelocation where the user is expected to be present during the second timeperiod; and determine, based on comparing a current location of the userto the location where the user is expected to be present during thesecond time period, whether the user is in the location where the useris expected to be present during the second time period; and in responseto determining that the user is not in the location where the user isexpected to be present during the second time period, maintain theparticular access restriction for the media content.
 62. The system ofclaim 61, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to, inresponse to determining that the user is in the location where the useris expected to be present during the second time period, replace theparticular access restriction for the media content with a differentaccess restriction for the media content.
 63. The system of claim 62,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to, in response toreplacing the particular access restriction with the different accessrestriction for the media content, provide a notification to the userthat the particular access restriction will be modified.
 64. The systemof claim 61, wherein the control circuitry is further configured todetermine the current location of the user by analyzing at least one ofa content of an electronic message or a context of the electronicmessage.
 65. The system of claim 64, wherein the electronic message isat least one of a short message service message associated with theuser, a multimedia message service message associated with the user, acalendaring application entry associated with the user, or an update toa section of a website associated with the user.
 66. The system of claim64, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to retrieve theelectronic message by periodically querying the database comprisingpublished communications of the user.
 67. The system of claim 61,wherein: the user is a parent user; and the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to provide a notification to a computing device associatedwith a child user indicating that the particular access restriction forthe media content will be maintained for at least a portion of thesecond time period.
 68. The system of claim 67, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to provide the notification to acomputing device of the parent user indicating that the particularaccess restriction for the media content will be maintained for at leastthe portion of the second time period.
 69. The system of claim 61,wherein the particular access restriction blocks or otherwise restrictsaccess to the media content based on a comparison of one or morecharacteristics of the media content to the particular accessrestriction, and wherein the one or more characteristics of the mediacontent comprise at least one of: media content ratings for the mediacontent, categories of the media content or age ratings associated withthe media content.
 70. The system of claim 61, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: provide an option to the user tooverride the maintaining of the particular access restriction; and inresponse to the user selecting the option, replace the particular accessrestriction with a different access restriction.